THREE friends have raised £4,600 for charity after tackling a gruelling fitness challenge.

THREE friends have raised £4,600 for charity after tackling a gruelling fitness challenge.

Stuart Green, of Highburton, and Tony Sunderland and John Wright, both of Sandal in Wakefield, took part in the Great Lakeland Challenge last month.

The trio canoed 11 miles along Windermere, cycled 27 miles over Hardknott Pass and then ran eight miles to the top of England's highest mountain, Scafell Pike.

The three former rugby union players - all aged 39 - completed the challenge in 10 hours and 30 minutes, comfortably under the target time of 12 hours.

The challenge has been organised for the past eight years by the Wooden Spoon Society. The charity, which raises money to help under- priveleged children, is supported by rugby union players from all over the UK.

Mr Green and his friends were just one of 30 teams tackling the challenge.

Mr Green said: "It was unbelievably hard. I don't think we could have done this aged 29, never mind at 39 without all the training we did.

"We were all big men but we are considerably slimmer than when we started!

"Lots of people who sponsored us thought we would not do it. But we have proved them wrong. It was a fantastic experience."